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Sunday, 27 December 2015

Finally we have a dry day here in the North of England - the blue sky has a damn cheek showing it's face after the horrendous weather! I often have said about being here on the top of the moors and the gale force winds we have when everyone else has a little bit of a breeze, but my goodness have I been thankful for being so high up when you see the floods in the nearby villages.
The destruction and devastation caused by the water has been unspeakably bad - even a 200 year old pub was washed away. Big mop ups underway today but I fear tho' it is only going to be a brief respite as the weather is going to be bad again mid week - am hoping that those who have had to leave their homes are able to get back into them today - even if it's only to retrieve some undamaged possessions.
I don't feel very Christmassy now (did I ever????? LOL) so instead here's a snippet make.

The bike is a wooden one - part of a card of wooden embellies bought last year after seeing a similar make and thinking it was a good idea! (Something else found in the recess of a drawer....)

The paper was from the 'odds and sods' box and I layered it onto a piece of beige coloured left over card before mounting it onto the white base card.

I stamped a teeny basket, cut out then stuck it onto the bike wheel, added a couple of punched flowers with tiny blingy centres and two pins.
Stamped the sentiment in Versamark Sahara Sand Ink onto another snippet of card.

Father Christmas (in the guise of my long suffering OH) bought me a new digital camera so I have been playing about with it! Pic is certainly better - and it is nice and easy to use - but it has loads of different settings which I've not even tried out yet!
Another lazy day for me today - feel guilty as I think I should have gone out because the rain has stopped but honestly can't be bothered!!
Challenges -Pixies SnippetsAllsorts - Anything But ChristmasCrafty Gals Corner - Anything GoesThat's Crafty - Anything Goes.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with everything you wished for.Thanks for taking the time to call in today - I appreciate it! x

Sunday, 20 December 2015

Another Christmas card to share - and another made with a few left over pieces.

I drew a sketch and saved it into my drafts file so it is likely that this is a card similar to one I saw previously somewhere.

You can tell from the pic quality that once again it has been a grey overcast day here - although when I dragged myself out of bed this morning the sun was shining... didn't last long but it was nice to see even for a short while!

Simple card this - script stamped onto a scrap piece in grey Versamark then cut out with a nestie die, sponged over the edges with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters DI.

Holly is one of my fave Christmas dies and added some red bling! (Cos it's Christmas!)

Quite like the clean look of this and even with the bling think it's OK for a man - hope so 'cos that's where it's going!!!!

We spent yesterday cooking serving (and washing up) Christmas Lunch for 35 at the Club. I was on my feet for almost 11 hours solid so am REALLY suffering today - my legs feel like ton weights and like they don't belong to me!
The tree was supposed to be getting put up today but neither himself or I could summon the energy.............we're really busy over the next 2 days so said tree likely won't adorn the lounge until Wednesday! At least it'll be there in time for Christmas Eve!

Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Following on from my confession about Kraft card (here if you want to read), I sat for a little while looking at the little (??) stack of nondescript colour card which I bought 'cos it seemed like a 'good idea' at the time.
I have recently acquired yet another Christmas stamp (I need these like I need a hole in the head) but it was a bargain in a sale - so was determined that this one wasn't going to get put away uninked - like two I bought last year and several I bought the year before that.......
Stamped it and heat embossed in white.
Flipped it over, masked off the flower and stamped/embossed a few more stars across the top of the card leaving a space.
I coloured the flower with Fired Brick DI and used Mowed Lawn DI on the leaves/stem.
Heat embossed the sentiment which was a freebie with a mag.
Matted it onto dark red card and used another sheet of the (boring) cardstock for the base card.
Quite pleased with this - altho' am still not going to say I like Kraft!! (Not yet anyway.....)

Saturday, 12 December 2015

Another week almost gone - and I shall be glad to see the back of it. It has been just been a week of devastatingly sad news - and it seems even worse as it is so close to Christmas.
Cards are done and most posted thankfully. Still no sign of any Christmas Tree in the house or any decorations!
Am not big into Christmas - bit of Bah Humbug here! I think it's because it's a time for families to be together and as we are rather short of relatives (!!!!!) I find myself not wanting to be bothered with all the rigmarole that surrounds it - - apart from of course eating Christmas Dinner!!!!
Will get round to putting the tree up sometime this week no doubt - we are doing our usual cooking Christmas Lunch for 40 at the Club next Saturday.

Here's another NBUS!

Have rather a lot of these 'never before used stamps'.
Seeing something similar on Pinterest I thought I would give this a go.

The large background stamp was gold embossed and coloured with Distress inks in shades of pink and green.

I ragged the edge a bit and sponged a little Antique Linen DI round it and a little randomly on the stamped bit.

Stamped the top only of the smaller bauble onto a scrap piece and decoupaged it, adding some tiny blingy bits to the middle.

The poinsettia on the large bauble was done using one of the MUSOC stamps this year -(most used stamp of Christmas). Am surprised it has not worn out.
Coloured with the same DI then layered and a die cut flourish and a big blingy centre.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

The wonderful Crafty Ribbons are our sponsors this month at Stamping Sensations and our challenge theme is 'Anything Goes with Ribbon' - (but don't forget your stamp must be the focal point of your project!).
There's no excuse then not to join in this month particularly if you're like me and now in a mad panic about Christmas Cards...

We got a few nice ribbony goodies to play with for this month from the sponsors and I had to steel myself to use a piece!
I struggle a lot making scenes with stamps and ink and deffo need more practice but I wanted to have a go and here is my result.

For a change I used a navy blue card base. (As well as having tons of paper I also have rather a lot of coloured card so am going to use that up too!)
I embossed a piece of white linen textured card with the random dots folder and wrapped round a piece of the scrummy ribbon and tied into a bow. The sentiment was stamped using Midnight Navy Stazon.
For the scene, I used Mermaid lagoon and Tumbled Glass Distress inks, masking off the moon with a £2 coin!
The trees were also stamped in Navy Stazon and I dragged a little Mermaid lagoon ink at the base of each trunk to give some depth.
Simply cut out with a nestie then finished it all off with a little sprinkling of glitter and a few dots round the 'lights' on the biggest tree - this doesn't show up very well in the photo but I didn't want to overload with glitter - it looks OK I think in real life!

Saturday, 5 December 2015

The weather here is the worst I can remember - we are suffering with gales of 70mph plus and so much rain. There's road closures all over the North of England and floods. (Floods thankfully don't affect us as we're so high up on the top but we therefore have the worst of the winds!)
I am not looking forward to a 6 hour drive tomorrow down to the South coast and am hoping that this bad weather eases a little before we leave.
I have spent this morning doing a little shabby card making - which I will show at some point but as we're still in December here's another Christmas offering

A little bit of pinkiness as a change from the trad colours - and another card inspired by Pinterest.
I have had this paper pack for a long time - it was one that I wanted and this is only the second time I have used anything from it. (Typical........)
All over snowflake embossing folder used on two pieces of card. Larger piece matted onto dark pink then base card, smaller embossed piece cut out with a nestie and I ran some Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar DI round the edges.
Aforementioned never before used paper simply cut into 3 tree shapes and stuck onto circle piece with 3d glue.
Added some blingy gems to each tree.
Finished with a double shimmery organza bow - one pink ribbon and the other white.
Sentiment from SU.

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

Wish it would snow - it would be a change from all this rain! It's hardly stopped for days now and is really making me feel miserable! At least snow makes everything look bright - rain is just GREY!
Yet another CAS card to share - made a couple of these too - one in black and one in blue -

(design inspired by Pinterest!)

The circles were cut out of the left over pieces of card using a die for the larger ones and a punch for the smallest. (So Playground again for me!)
Heat embossed sentiment and different snowflake stamps in Winter White embossing powder and then simply ran a white ink pad round the edges of both cirlces and base card.
The sentiment was a free one with a magazine.

A single sparkly gem for one of the flakes - cos a girl has to have a bit of bling - even if these cards were made for male relatives!!
Aren't these photos rubbish??? Tried taking a few recently and there seems to be a lot of 'bleed' on the images at the bottom of each pic. Some are worse than others - OH thinks the antique camera may be on it's last legs... perhaps Santa will bring me a new one for Christmas!
ChallengesCardz 4 Guyz - CAS ChristmasOLLCB - Let it SnowPaper Players - Snowflake/Sparkle/Die or Blue/Sparkle/EmbossingCrafty Sentiment Designs - WinterCreative Card Crew - Cold Outside

Thanks for looking. I woke up yesterday with a stinking head cold - am getting on my own nerves at the mo - feeling very sorry for myself!!! x

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About Me

I love being in my crafty space! It's a place where I can make cards, paint, alter stuff and lose myself.
I have been the National President of Bowls England in 2017 and have a wonderfully understanding husband who puts up with the mess!
I am a football fanatic and am a mad Liverpool FC supporter.
I've been tracing my family tree for a long time (with one ancestry line traced back to 1605!).
I divide my time up doing all the things I like to do - crafting, genealogy, and lawn bowls! I am lucky enough to have formed several friendships through all my hobbies and love being in blogland!

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COPYRIGHT

All artwork, photos and text on this blog are copyright Viv Tomlinson. I hope I can inspire people the way others have inspired me but please do not attempt to copy or reproduce my work.I consent for my work for any challenges/swaps etc I enter to be copied and posted on the relevant site, but please do not put any of my images elsewhere.